Linda Willing

Leading the Team

Linda Willing is a retired career fire officer and currently works with emergency services agencies and other organizations on issues of leadership development, decision-making and diversity management. She was an adjunct instructor and curriculum advisor with the National Fire Academy for over 20 years. Willing is the author of On the Line: Women Firefighters Tell Their Stories and was co-founder of Women in the Fire Service. Willing has a bachelor’s degree in American studies, a master’s degree in organization development and is a certified mediator. She is a member of the FireRescue1/Fire Chief Editorial Advisory Board. Connect with Willing via email.

LATEST ARTICLES

Leadership lessons from a ranting officer

A firefighter’s job is to mitigate damage and never make something worse than it already is

April 03, 2013 05:02 AM

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Fire officers: How to lead older crews at slow stations

Just because the crew has decades on the department doesn’t make them above being led; in fact, it’s quite the opposite

March 12, 2013 12:33 PM

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5 Things to avoid in performance evals

Good evaluations are hard to do, even for the best-trained; avoiding some basic pitfalls will make the evaluations more productive

February 18, 2013 10:50 AM

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4 steps to being a better leader

Knowing what you want, rewarding good work, setting expectations and building relationships will improve your leadership abilities

January 08, 2013 10:36 AM

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Effective leadership: Balancing accountability and authority

Like the relationship between freedom and responsibility; effective accountability needs empowerment

November 27, 2012 06:54 AM

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2 professionalism pitfalls company officers must avoid

Avoidance and acceptance are not reasons for an officer to allow bad behavior to take place

November 05, 2012 04:17 AM

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Fire Service Culture

3 keys to changing fire service culture

Change is not easy, but possible if the right steps are taken and consistently implemented

October 10, 2012 05:42 AM

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How to identify problems early

An officer cannot afford to be the last to know about members’ problems as they tend to grow if left unaddressed

September 05, 2012 06:12 AM

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Fireground communication: The price of silence

Not creating a culture where everyone is encouraged to share observations has deadly consequences on the fireground

August 08, 2012 04:42 AM

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3 decision-making tools to keep your crew alive

Using all three of these decision-making models gives fire officers the best chance of making the right life-and-death decisions

July 05, 2012 05:47 AM

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